The Southern Literary Messenger, Vol. I., No. 11, July, 1835Various
General
The Southern Literary Messenger, Vol. I., No. 11, July, 1835
Various
American literature -- 19th century -- Periodicals
You sigh to think you were not born six hundred
years ago, that you could not have beheld those now deserted halls, as
they once blazed in triumph, and rang with the mingled voices of
oriental chivalry and song,--when you find yourself once more borne
across the Atlantic, whirled into the western wilderness, with a
prairie wide as the ocean before you, and a dusky herd of buffaloes,
like the crowded convoy of fleeing merchantmen, looming in the
horizon, and inviting you to the chase. This is literally _nullum fere
genus scribendi non tigit nullum quod titigit non ornviit_. Whether
anything like an equal range is to be found in the works of him on
whom the splendid compliment was first bestowed, it is not difficult
to say."
The articles on Machiavelli, and on the life of Roscoe, are both
excellent in their way. The former has particular attractions, as it
is a luminous disquisition on the character and writings of one who
for ages was an enigma in the political and intellectual world, whose
works, like those of Dante and Faust, have been interpreted by
opposing critics in the most conflicting manner, and whose name, error
and prejudice handed down from century to century, have rendered
synonymous with all that is crafty and corrupt in the art of
government.
The notice of Mrs. Butler's work is the best we have seen. The
reviewer performs his task with redoubtable good humor. The gentleness
with which he calls the lady to account for her literary offences, and
the hearty tribute of praise he bestows on the best portions of her
work, show that he is determined to
"Be to her faults a little blind,
And to her merits very kind."
But the review of Mrs. Child's ill-judged appeal on the subject of
slavery, has for us a more powerful attraction than any in the number.
It is not possible that we should be witnesses of the momentous
occurrences of the day, and not feel most sensitively every reference
to a topic in the discussion of which all that we love and reverence
is involved. The impatient zeal of pretending enthusiasts, who in the
pursuit of what to them seems good, disregard the frightful evils
which their blind impetuosity may produce, cannot but awaken in those
upon whom these evils must fall, a trembling anxiety for the future,
and an indignant resentment against the madmen who are blindly
jeoparding the peace of the country and the lives of thousands. We
cannot trust our feelings upon this subject. We see too clearly the
horrors in perspective, which fanaticism is preparing for us, and we
humbly hope that the results of its insane excess, may be averted. The
reviewer in the North American, thinks and feels correctly on this
subject, and we regret that we can only make room for the closing
passages of his remarks:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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